


two of us

by staellula



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Christmas Party, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Feels, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28351446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staellula/pseuds/staellula
Summary: a christmas special. in which, when allison invites the whole family to spend christmas at her house in los angeles, diego convices his best friend to pretend to be his girlfriend for the holidays. he tells her (and himself) that he needs to avoid his siblings’ teasing about him not getting over his ex… but maybe there’s more to that arrangement than what meets the eye.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	two of us

**Author's Note:**

> a late christmas gift, from me to you. the hargreeves celebrate a secular christmas, so there are no religious implications or mentions of religion. i hope you like this first part! this one is a little more focused on the reader and diego, the next one is filled with family shenanigans and a few nice surprises.
> 
> this was written for @fandomscombine writing challenge on tumblr, with the tropes friends to lovers and fake dating.

_"Everyone already thinks we're together, anyway."_

_"Everyone who?"_

_"Your friends, my friends, your family every time they see me with you. Fuck, even Eudora, the last time I saw her, was asking about you!"_

_"So, that's your point? We make a convincing couple and you wanna use me to get your siblings off your tail?"_

_"When you put it like that it makes me sound like an asshole, but, yeah, kinda…"_

_"You are an asshole."_

_“No, I’m awesome. You’re the asshole here.”_

_“Diego…”_

_"Are you gonna help me or not? C'mon, I'll do anything you want."_

_"Now that I can work with."_

You still haven’t decided what you want from him, but that was how you caught yourself celebrating Christmas at Allison Hargreeves’ house in Beverly Hills with your best friend’s six other siblings and extended family - though, to them, he’s your boyfriend.

You’ve known Diego for so long you barely remember how you’ve met.

It’s like he’s always been there, with his bad attitude and his fierce protectiveness and his penchant to drive you crazy, and while you may not know him forever, you know him well. 

Enough to know that, for instance, he and his siblings had never celebrated Christmas as children. Not because they observed a different holiday or because their father wanted them to choose what to celebrate, given his adoptive children’s diverse origins - the old man simply thought any holiday was, in his words, told by Diego in a very ludicrous impersonation of their father, “a waste of time and money”. None of them cared enough to push it, and by the time they left home, each of them grew into their own traditions - something about making up for all the good times they lost in the past. 

Enough to know that, other than his siblings, you were the closest thing Diego had to a family - and you couldn’t stand the thought of letting him down.

So, when he came to you with that stupid idea in which you’d pretend to be his girlfriend for the holidays so his siblings could finally stop teasing him about being single ever since his ex-girlfriend broke up with him - which, honestly, you totally understand. If perfect, beautiful, badass, detective Eudora Patch broke up with you, you’d never get over it, either - you hesitated a bit, but ended up saying yes.

There’s just a tiny, little problem.

A problem whose lap you're sitting on. There’s not enough seats in the living room for everybody, so, of course, in your girlfriend-boyfriend act, you sat pretty and perched on Diego’s thighs, praying no one noticed how both of you were not at all used to this. His cologne and the warmth of his body invading all of your senses while you tried, and failed, to pay attention to Klaus as he talked about his last trip to India. 

Could your life be more cliché than “the girl who’s secretly in love with her best friend, pretending to be his girlfriend because she can’t say no to him?”. The answer is yes, it can always get worse.

The funny thing is that you’re not unused to closeness with Diego. He’s a very tactile person and you’re not one to shy away from physical affection - that was one of the reasons why people often thought you were a couple, you hugged and held hands and layed your heads on each other shoulders a little too much for two people who were just friends. But now, in front of his family and 

Making a hurried excuse to leave the room, the brisk air hitting the balcony is a welcome change of scenery. The cold hits your cheeks and you breathe in, 

“Too much?”

You chuckle, not looking back yet. “Now I understand why you brag so much about surviving a family of seven. They’re loud.”

“And obnoxious, yeah.” A huff and a sigh and Diego is beside you, tugging down the sleeves of his fitted black sweater. A real good look on him, if anyone asked. “You okay?”

"Yeah! Just can't believe they bought it."

"Hey, don't jinx it." He warns, side-eyeing you. "There's still a couple of days left."

"I know! But I mean it, we're good at this."

Moments later, you’d wish you had never said that.

"And by this you mean…" Diego comes up behind you, a teasing look on his face, twinkling on his brown eyes. He puts his arms around you, hugging you from the back, and whispering down your neck "...pretending to be helplessly in love with each other?"

Two can play this game. You’re frozen in place, but playing cool on the outside. “I was gonna say acting, but if that works for you, who am I to say otherwise.”

He laughs, placing a loud smacking kiss on your cheek, before letting go. You reach to elbow him in the ribs, but he’s too fast. “Yeah, whatever. You love me.”

Heat fills your face, and you’re glad that you can blame the cold for your flushed face. “You’re lucky I do.”

“I know I am.”

It’s only hours later, after dinner and and all the glasses of wine Allison and Klaus kept pouring you and missing all of the table’s inside jokes but smiling anyway - because you couldn’t help it when you see Diego laughing so openly - and trying not to stumble too much up the stairs, that you get into the guest room you’re sharing with your boyfriend-not-just-friend and realize-

“There’s just one bed.”

Only one, perfectly cozy and warm, double bed. It mocks you as you stand at the doorway and stare intently at it, holding your boots in one hand - the ones that you insisted in taking off in the middle of the staircase. You should have known, should have remembered even, because you were at this very room earlier after you’d arrived, but it must have slipped your mind after so much that had happened during the day. Now, there was only one, very real, bed and two, very fake, lovers to share it.

“Yeah. What did you expect?” Diego shrugs, passing through the door in front of you. “That I’d ask my sister to put us in separate rooms? She would notice.” 

If you were paying more attention you’d notice he sounded almost hurt, a little offended. 

“Of course she would. I just… forgot, I guess."

Stuck in a daze, you wander around the room while the two of you get ready for bed. At the same time you lay on your chosen side, as far from the middle as possible, you see a pillow hit the carpeted floor beside the bed.

"What are you doing?" You ask, sitting up. "You don't have to sleep on the floor."

"Are you sure? You didn't sound comfortable with it."

Another thing you knew about Diego? He didn’t deal well with rejection. Never did. It was something you had to remember constantly, and reassurance was a thing you learned he needed.

“No! I’m fine with it. Besides, it’s too cold for you to sleep on the floor.” You reason. “C’mon, don’t make me drag you up here.”

He hums a response, one you don’t quite catch, and picks up his pillow from the floor. Looking up at the ceiling, you follow Diego’s steps as he turns off the lights, pulls away the covers and lays down beside you. The two of you lay in silence, listening to each other breathing and trying not to touch, like two teenagers unsure of how to share a bed with someone for the first time.

“If you hog the blankets I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

A snort comes from beside you. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Goodnight, D.”

“Night, _baby_.”

When you kick him as an answer, he only laughs, turning into his side, away from you. You turn away, too.

Sleep evades you as you stare at the darkness surrounding the room. Some thoughts can’t escape your mind while you try to rest - if this was real, you could reach out. You could just turn around and reach for him, and his heat would welcome you into his arms, lulling you sleep. Nonetheless, it was only real from outside this closed door, on the inside, you were only a friend doing a favor.

You fall asleep curled within yourself, and wake up trapped in a tangle of limbs and comfortable warmth.

Don’t ask how.


End file.
